Commercial Space Tourism: Impediments to Industrial Development and Strategic Communication Solutions

Space tourism industry profit projections unanimously portended optimistic and even favorable prospects for the new enterprise. The specific space tourism economic benefits were described and documented from a quartet of salient sources. Space tourismrelated revenue included direct revenue, economic growth, employment and the multiplier effect. The consequences of space tourism industrial development for the U.S. aerospace industry were described. The benefits of commercial space development were investigated. Likely to prosper from the commercialization of space: manufacturing, mining, biomedical research and astronomy. The concept of a safety net was considered; it suggested that an off-planet capacity might be needed because of dangers to the Earth. These terrestrial travails might include resource depletion, comets, asteroids and meteors, environmental degradation, war and biosphere destruction. Seven ways were identified in which space tourism facilitates space development: motivation of alternate commercial space development, generation of consumer interest in space, facilitation of development of space infrastructure, promotion of financing of space development projects, reduction in the cost of space access, encouragement of technological development and the promotion of regulatory reform. Environmental consequences of commercial space tourism industrial development are cause for concern and careful consideration. The Earth may contaminate space, and/or outer space might contaminate the Earth. Space may become polluted and the Earth might be similarly sullied and polluted. Space tourists might commit acts of vandalism in space. Earthside-space tourism operations might produce terrestrial noise pollution and there was the ever-present possibility of explosions. Finally, the pervasive presence of lunar dust was described as a hazard.

An historical-critical survey of the contemporary state-of-the-art of space tourism industrial development identified eighteen factors suggestive of the significance of this phenomenon. Initially it was discovered that there have already been space tourists, and that some space tourism capacity was presently available. It must be admitted that the space tourism industry was a contemporary phenomenon, albeit at an embryonic stage of development. There appeared to be a trend towards space tourism, and a space tourism movement was identified. Space tourism plans of several firms were described as were numerous instances of contemporary space tourism investment. Space tourism construction and manufacturing was underway and was documented. A number of space tourism firms were accepting reservations and taking deposits, such as Virgin Galactic and Space Adventures. Space tourism test flights were conducted with regularity by several competing vendors. Space tourism licenses and permits were routinely applied for and obtained. Space tourism transportation technological adequacy was documented, and the space tourism infrastructure seemed to be adequate. Space tourism was an inevitable development some sources contended. The proliferation of space tourism firms was observed. The fact that a space tourism market currently existed was noted. The relative safety of space tourism was described.

A systematic analysis of the published literature on commercial space tourism resulted in the identification of ten major factors indicative of the relative insignificance of this industry and the tourist activity at the present time. Initially, there has been a severely limited number of space tourists, with only a few pioneers to date. There is currently little space tourism activity, and there is no contemporary space tourism industry. Presently there is an inadequate space tourism infrastructure. The space tourism market remains unproven. Contemporary space transportation technology inadequacy limits space access. Historically, most commercial space ventures have failed. The American space access gap was documented, as the retirement of the space shuttles left the U.S. without space access until the Ares/Orion replacement systems are ready as scheduled in 2014 or later (as is most likely, given the current projected two-year delays). Reliance on Russian space tourism access may be an issue, in light of Russian reliability issues, Russian lead time requirements, and Russian space industry problems. Transportation dangers were identified and documented, including rocket safety, space tourism risks, launch failures, accidents in space, reentry accidents, spacecraft damage, and earth weather. Finally, we identified the limiting factor of cost or pricepoint. Both suborbital and orbital space tourism pricepoints were surveyed and documented.

The primary impediments to commercial space tourism industrial development were reported in this chapter. Insufficient investment was the single greatest impediment for several reasons. Investors were not attracted to commercial space projects. There were several obstacles to obtaining adequate investment, and inadequate investment cancelled space tourism plans. The second impediment to space tourism enterprise was space dangers. Dangers included space weather, radiation, debris, asteroids and meteors, space traffic congestion and outer space hazards. Excessive regulation was the third impediment. The negative consequences of excessive regulation were documented. Transportation dangers, the fourth impediment discussed, were identified and quantified. The fifth impediment involved medical and health issues. Space medical & health risks were described and the empirical space health record to date was examined. The significance of legal issues in space tourism was noted and the adequacy of contemporary commercial space law discussed. Pricepoint was the seventh primary impediment. This primary obstacle deterred commercialization of space tourism. Space tourism revenue did not exceed cost. The necessity for coalitions impeded space tourism. Commercial space cooperation was necessary, and coalitions must be international and include the public and private sectors and the travel and tourism industry. Problems with international cooperation were noted. Infrastructure inadequacy was identified as another primary impediment. Five types of needed space tourism infrastructure were located and it was observed that there was inadequate infrastructure. Politics was another obstacle to commercial space enterprise. Politics obstructed space tourism development and determined policy. Inadequate transportation was the final primary impediment.

The secondary impediments to commercial space tourism were discussed in this chapter. Insurance for risky activities like space tourism was a significant issue. Insurance of various types was both required and costly. It was also difficult to obtain and thus a potential barrier to space tourism. The second secondary impediment involved standards. There were several types and a number of potential problems, such as who should set them? Risk perception was the third secondary impediment. The significance of risk perception was established, as risk perceptions inhibited space tourism and deterred investors. The lack of government support was another secondary barrier to space tourism. Governments did not support space tourism: instead, they sometimes obstructed space tourism. Inadequate public awareness about space tourism opportunities was noted. Public awareness was necessary: limited public awareness of space tourism was an impediment to space tourism demand and insufficient investor awareness inhibited investment. There was a prevalent perception that governments dominated space. In fact, governments have dominated space and there was a government attitude to control space. The popular public perception was that space belongs to government. The space tourism market remained unproven, another secondary impediment. It was thought that there was significant market potential. Stakeholder conflict was the eighth secondary impediment. There were basic questions, such as should space be developed? Other stakeholder conflicts involved ethics, space law, the environment, priorities, access, politics, intra-organizational conflict and cultural conflict. The final two secondary impediments were the supply/demand catch 22 and the NIMBY phenomenon.

The development of the commercial space tourism industry was not inevitable. Although a potentially profitable enterprise for several stakeholders, there was absolutely no assurance that commercial space tourism would take off. This chapter initially assessed the alleged inevitability of commercial space tourism by applying five factors. Initially, we sought to ascertain whether an industry existed at the present time in dichotomous terms, yes or no? The relative degree of development was the second criterion used to consider the inevitability of space tourism industrial development. Next, timeline estimates for the arrival of the commercial space tourism industry were accumulated and arranged on a chronological continuum. The fourth criterion involved the existence of substantial impediments to realization of space tourism enterprises; eleven primary impediments and ten secondary obstacles were identified and quantified. Fifth and finally the fact that some impetus was necessary to facilitate and catalyze commercial space tourism was documented. The second main section of this chapter suggested that strategic communication promoted commercial space tourism development. Two rationales supported this conclusion: there were communication solutions to space tourism impediments, and communication could be used to provide the impetus for industrial initiatives. The final section of this chapter described its transitional nature. The first part of this book documented space tourism impediments. Now the second section will demonstrate strategic communication solutions.

Strategic communication activity is guided by purposes, which are referred to as communication functions because they designate the rhetorical intent or function served by the communication activity. In the space tourism context, thirty-one different communication functions being served by the communication were identified. In this chapter the sixteen most prevalent functions were identified, quantified and exemplified. They include: 1) Investor relations, 2) Lobbying, 3) Information management, 4) Attitude change, 5) Education, 6) Creation of awareness, 7) Public interest campaigns, 8) Credibility enhancement, 9) Image creation and defense, 10) Coalition building, 11) Crisis management, 12) Public information campaigns, 13) Public advocacy, 14) Public referendum campaigns, 15) Promotion of space tourism and 16) Marketing public relations.

In addition to the relatively common primary space tourism strategic communication functions discussed in the last chapter there was an additional set of such purposes. These secondary functions were not as prevalent as the primary ones but they are nevertheless deserving of mention and serious consideration. They include, in order of quantitative significance: 1) Stakeholder conflict resolution, 2) Altering perspectives, 3) Attention arousal, 4) Adjusting expectations, 5) Influencing perceptions, 6) Refutation, 7) Creating involvement, 8) Community relations, 9) Rumor response, 10) Customer relations, 11) Environmental scanning, 12) Obtaining feedback, 13) Risk management, 14) Influencing media coverage and 15) Reputation management.

This chapter discussed the notion of tactics in strategic communication. Tactics are the policies or activities undertaken to accomplish strategic communication functions. The present study identified 215 tactics, which were categorized according to frequency of occurrence. Four categories were noted: 1) Typical, 2) Mid-Incidence, 3) Occasional and 4) Atypical. The forty-four typical tactics were discussed in this chapter.

The focus of this chapter was on the mid-incidence space tourism strategic communication tactics identified in the present study. These tactics were not observed as frequently as the typical tactics, which were discussed in the previous chapter. The forty-seven tactics in this category were observed on average just under ten times apiece. These tactics were explained and exemplified in the commercial space context.

This chapter briefly discussed the least-frequent two categories of space tourism strategic communication tactics, the occasional and the atypical tactics. The seventy-three occasionally used tactics were noticed about three times apiece, while each of the atypical tactics were observed once. The tactics were regrouped into categories according to their channel characteristics, resulting in ten types of tactic: 1) print, 2) broadcast, 3) interpersonal, 4) computer-based, 5) visual, 6) audiovisual, 7) events, 8) professional presentations, 9) affiliations and 10) commercial communication. The five most common categories were interpersonal, print, computerbased, events and broadcast.

The final chapter of this work served three main purposes. Initially, a brief summary of the overall book was presented. Next a series of major conclusions derived from this study were discussed. One section of this chapter addressed some caveats and limitations pertaining to this historical/critical analysis of commercial space tourism and the accompanying strategic communication. A postscript provided an update on recent related space policy developments.